Small spaces don’t have to mean small meals for your family. Whether you are traveling in an RV, downsizing the space of your kitchen or staying with friends, the Dashing Dish coaches have come up with some great tips and small gadget suggestions to make you a pro in any kitchen! Here are our top 6 tips and suggestions for cooking in small spaces:

Plan Ahead

Before, you make any meal for the day plan ahead! It’s always a great idea to have a game plan for your menu and materials you need for the day or week! A great tip for planning is to incorporate the same protein for multiple days. Let’s take chicken for example, it's extremely versatile and can be transformed to make a variety of meals. You can split your chicken to make a chicken fajita sheet pan one night and a chicken Caesar Casserole the next! And don’t forget to take the stress out of meal planning and food shopping by taking advantage of the dashing dish apps meal builder and grocery list feature! It can even send the list to your local food store- how easy is that?!

Clean as you Cook

After you have planned out your meals, it’s time to get cooking. One of the best ways to eliminate the overuse of counter space is to clean as you go. So toss your scraps in the trash and wash or rinse your boards and utensils after each use. This will help eliminate the stress of after meal clean up and help open up your space as you cook! Then all that’s left to do is enjoy your meal, the company of those around you and rest. Sounds like a dream, right??

One Pot or Sheet Pan Wonders

There is no shortage of one pot or one pan meals through the Dashing Dish app or on the internet. There are thousands of delicious meals that you can cook without using every single pot and pan in your kitchen. I personally love having a Dutch oven on hand to use on the stovetop or in the oven. Remember a minimal amount of equipment doesn’t mean a minimal amount of taste, you can get loads of flavors through soups, chili’s, casseroles, bakes and sheet pan meals with just one pot or pan.

Instant Pots and Air Fryers

These two may be my favorite gadgets to use in kitchens of all shapes and sizes. You can transform any meal with these two useful kitchen tools. An air fryer recipe can be converted from a recipe that uses the oven. A general rule of thumb is to reduce the suggested temperature by 25 degrees F and the time by 20%. However, make sure you check the doneness and crispiness on all sides by pausing your machine and taking a look inside. Also, the instant pot is the perfect tool to use in your kitchen when you are looking for a tasty soup, broth, chili or other water based meal. It's high pressure cooking will cut down the time and stress!

Multi Use Kitchen Tools

When you load your kitchen up with the essentials, it’s important to use tools that have multiple functions of use. For example, our coaches love using ice cream scoops for shaping meat balls, forming rice balls, protein balls, cookies and of course for scooping Dashing Dish ice creams. We’re also obsessed with the mini waffle makers, panini press, vegetable spiralizers, single serve Kurig or coffee press. There’s lots of kitchen gadgets out there!! Be sure to find ones that work for your style of cooking!

Maximize your space

There’s some easy ways to maximize the space you have without adding more sq ft to your kitchen. Create or invest in an over the sink cutting board to lengthen the space of your counters during meal prep. A tiered cooling rack is a great space saver for cooling your baked goods and it's collapsable feature is great for easy storage. Another, great hack for maximizing space is using small hooks under your cabinets to hang mugs, rolling pins or utensils! This keeps them off the counters and frees up space in your drawers.

So whether you are cooking in a small space, traveling or have use of a full size kitchen, these tips and tricks are great for any at home chef! Didn't see a smart, space saving tip for cooking and want to share? Tell us in the comments section below, we love seeing your space saving tips!